Our initiative is to create awareness and to amend the nursing shortage. We feel that through this blog and by contacting key stakeholders, we have increased awareness of H.R. 677. Even though we have not yet received direct feedback from our key stakeholders, they have been informed of this bill. Since it has only been one week, we still hope to hear from these contacts and to see changes in political action.

Our peers and blog follers did not voice any concerns about our bill. They are all supportive of this bill because we are all affected firsthand as nursing students. Unfortunately, no feedback was given by any stakeholders thus far.

As of this week, there are no further developments with the bill H.R.677. However, with the upcoming Presidential Election, our group speculates that there may be changes which will affect the nursing shortage.

The legislator for this bill is Republican Rush Holt from New Jersey, District 12. The key stakeholders include potential nursing students, current nursing students, nursing faculty, hospitals, and patients. We support this bill based on the increasing shortage of nurses. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, an additional 1.2 million new nurses will be needed by the year 2014 (Porter-Wenzlaff & Froman, 2008). Furthermore, "the need to increase the number of nurses educated at the baccalaureate (BSN) level is significant" (Spencer, 2008). "Research has shown that patient outcomes can be attributed to higher levels of nursing education" (Spencer, 2008). We will write to legislators expressing our concern regarding this crisis. In our letter, we will provide evidence demonstrating the need for action.

References

Spencer, J. (2008). Increasing RN-BSN enrollments: facilitating articulation through curriculum reform. Journal of continuing education in nursing, 39(7), 307-313.

Porter-Wenzlaff, L.J., & Froman, R.D. (2008). Responding to increasing RN demand: diversity and retention trends through an accelerated LVN-to-BSN curriculum. Journal of Nursing Education, 47(5), 231-235.

Governmental objectives:

-Funding to increase Nursing Faculty and Staff in nursing schools - this will allow more schools and more openings for students to enter the nursing curriculum

-Get professional and nonprofessional opinions, such as nurses, physicians, patients, faculty, administrators, consumers, and students on the issue and how they see the issue being resolved

Political influences:

-Health care professionals including students report insufficient space for admission in to nursing schools.
-The nursing shortage has been recognized world wide and it will grow as the baby boomers age and the need for health care increases
-"Compounding the problem is the fact that nursing colleges and universities across the country are struggling to expand enrollment levels to meet the rising demand for nursing care."

Reference

-"In a statement released in March 2008, The Council on Physician and Nurse Supply, an independent group of health care leaders based at the University of Pennsylvania, has determined that 30,000 additional nurses should be graduated annually to meet the nation's healthcare needs, an expansion of 30% over the current number of annual nurse graduates."

Reference

-According to AACN's report on 2007-2008 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing, U.S. nursing schools turned away 40,285 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in 2007 due to insufficient number of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, and budget constraints. Almost three quarters (71.4%) of the nursing schools responding to the 2007 survey pointed to faculty shortages as a reason for not accepting all qualified applicants into entry-level nursing programs.

Reference

Potential impact of the policy change on nursing, clients, and the health care system:

"In an article published in the June 2006 issue of Health Affairs titled “Hospitals’ Responses to Nurse Staffing Shortages,” the authors found that 97% of surveyed hospitals were using educational strategies to address the shortage of nurses. Specific strategies include partnering with schools of nursing, subsidizing nurse faculty salaries, reimbursing nurses for advancing their education in exchange for a work commitment, and providing scheduling flexibility to enable staff to attend classes. The paper ends with a call for more public financing support for the nursing educational system to expand student capacity."

Reference

"Nursing colleges and universities are also forming strategic partnerships and seeking private support to help expand student capacity and strengthen the nursing workforce. For example, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida donated $600,000 in funding to both the University of North Florida and the University of Florida in an effort to address critical issues in nursing education. The State of Florida matched each gift at $420,000. In September 2005, the Osteopathic Heritage Society awarded almost $1 million in funding to five Columbus, Ohio area schools of nursing to recruit more faculty and equip more training facilities. In June 2005, Georgia Baptist College of Nursing is partnering with Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta to help recruit, educate and ultimately place more nurses in the health system and the community at large. "

Reference

According to Janiszewski Goodin there is an "undisputed…national
shortage of Registered Nurses (RNs)." And she states that because of
national trends, the problem is not going to get any better. Some
areas are experiencing worse effects than others, but overall, it is a
national problem that could result in a "20% deficit in RN workforce
by the year 2020." While the reasons for the shortage are debatable,
the solution is to increase funding for nursing schools, providing for
larger class sizes.

Reference
2003 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 43(4), 335–350

"According to Teri Murray in the article, "An Academic Service Partnership to Expand Capactiy: What did we Learn?," it is highlighted that the baby boomer generation will be approaching the 65 years of age in the coming years. With this increase in age, there also comes a higher incidence of health problems more likely to land them in the hospital requiring the care of registered nurses. In order to fill the nursing shortage, nursing schools need to expand their faculty while maintaining the quality of their program.

The study presented in this particular article follows a partnership program between a hospital and nursing school with the hospital "loaning" faculty members for clinical courses. These qualified individuals were master's level nurses employed by the hospital. A majority of the "loaned" faculty members said they would be willing to continue teaching clinical courses; however, disadvantages included role confusion while being on units they worked on and long hours related to clinical paperwork. Again, there is the issue of burnout with these particular "loaned" faculty members due to long hours of their nursing job and the addition of being a clinical instructor. "

Murray, T.A. (2008). An academic service partnership to expand capacity: What did we learn? The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 39(5), 217-224.

Summary of the Nursing School Capacity Act of 2007:

"Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to request that the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) conduct a study to: (1) identify constraints encountered by schools of nursing in admitting and graduating the number of registered nurses necessary to ensure patient safety and meet the need for quality assurance in the provision of health care; and (2) develop recommendations to alleviate the constraints on a short-term and long-term basis. Directs the Secretary to provide that the study consider the perspectives of: (1) nurses and physicians in inpatient, outpatient, and residential facilities; (2) faculty and administrators of nursing schools; (3) providers of health plans or health insurance; and (4) consumers."

Reference

The bill is sponsored by Representative Rush D. Holt from New Jersey and has 77 cosponsors.

This bill is important to us because we are all nursing students who have directly experienced the effects of limited space and funding in nursing classes. We are all nursing students in our 5th or 6th year of our undergraduate education after waiting for admission to the James Madison University Nursing program. Although surpassing all admission requirements, our admission was postponed due to lack of staff and funds. While we chose to wait, many of our peers chose to transfer to another Nursing school or change majors. This ultimately does not help the nursing shortage. We support this bill because it creates awareness for the nursing shortage and seeks to find solutions.